Unique Childlike Faith

Tonight was a very interesting night, one that I hope doesn't leave my memory. God has reminded me that children are such a precious gift. Each child is different. They are creative in their own ways, communicate in their own ways, talented in their own ways, show love and affection in their own ways, and have unique needs. I also continue to notice that children are drawn to me like a magnet to a refrigerator door. There are two children in particular that I absolutely adore and cherish. They brighten up my day (or night) by simply seeing them. For being four and two years old they are both very bright and very ... very funny!

The local home school group put on a Thanksgiving feast and talent show tonight. My mentor or disciple leader or personal Yoda or whatever you would like to call her invited me to tag along with her and the fam. Two of her children were performing as well as other children from the church. Her two daughters and a friend from church sang a song written by the eldest of the two daughters. The song, you might be wondering is titled "Me and My Bunnies." It is hilarious! (If you would like to view the hilarity please click here ... I highly recommend watching). Earlier in the show one of the classes performed. It was the Hands Praise Class (could have butcherd the name, if so I apologize), this class teaches children sign language to praise songs. One of the little boys in the class is autistic. He is in the Sunday school class I help with and so I am particularly biased to things that he does. As I sat and watched him go through this song I cried. No idea why, but I did. Like a big baby I cried as I watched him with the biggest smile do the motions to a song praising Christ our King.

Watching him and thinking back to him with that big ole' smile makes me think of the verse encouraging us to have the faith of a child. There is nothing like watching an autistic child who trusts his parents fully and locks eyes with his mother the entire time he is on stage. He grinned from ear to ear, more so than anyone I have ever seen. He watched her wanting to make sure he was doing what she was reminding him to do. He didn't want to lose sight of what she was showing him, he was trying to mimic her exact motions. That is child-like faith, trusting everything your Father shows you and wanting to mimic everything He does. Just like this little boy and his mother, she knew that he would not be able to get everything 100% correct but he gave it all he had and he smiled the entire time. God, our Father, has a purpose for us and gives us instruction. He made us, therefore He knows we are going to screw up. He does not expect us to do things 100% accurate, He loves us and wants us to trust Him. He wants us to have faith like a child trusting his mother to provide instruction. He wants us to be happy where He has us. He loves us enough to provide instruction and to give us grace when we fail. I will be the first to admit I am a failure, but I am a failure for Jesus. At the end of the day I can say, "at least I tried." Even if I fail, I can look back and ask myself if I have done all things for the glory of God. If I failed but did it trying to glorify God, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that He was glorified. This little boy was giving all he had trusting his mother and reminded me just how much I need to follow his example. I want to be so reliant upon God that I am looking only to Him for instruction, not caring if I get everything right but just trying to do what He wants with a big silly grin on my face.

He made me cry, but not in a bad way. He made me cry in a way that makes me thank God. This little boy is "near and dear to my heart," as we say here in the South. One of his favorite things to shout during Sunday school for an answer (to any question really) is "obey God!" He says it with such gusto and excitement I can't help but smile when he says it, he is such a Jesus lover! He shows such unique childlike faith. Usually when you see kids who trust their parents it is encouraging but when I watch him I see who I want to be as a child of the King. So I thank God for little Zeke and his trusting heart. It makes me want to get down on my knees and beg God to someday make me a parent that is worth trusting and worth looking up to in Him. I want to be so focused on the Lord that when my children lean on me and look to me and follow me they are leaning on, looking to, and following Christ ... not me. Zeke makes me want to be a better parent to children I don't even have. I truly thank God for Zeke and his ability as 1st/2nd grader to push others to Christ. His family is truly blessed with such a great example of childlike faith.

There are so many things I want to write about, yet I do not know where to begin or how to write them. God has been laying much on my heart lately. For many years I have had a heart ... or desire would be a more accurate word, every living person has a heart ... to actively participate in overseas missions. My desire is to move halfway around the world and share Christ with people who would love to kill me for that very thing.

This morning representatives from the Pregnancy Resource Center spoke at church. My immediate thought was, "I could volunteer with them and work with them here for awhile and then move overseas and start a clinic as my ministry to reach women in other countries." But the countries I have been longing to go to do not have need of that. When looking for abortion statistics it is nearly impossible to find any abortions from the middle east. (Well that may not be true, I may not be looking in the right places). But the whole time these women were talking about the P.R.C. all I wanted to do was cry. Every 24 seconds a baby is aborted. So if you multiply that out for one day, everyday an average of 4,000 unborn babies are aborted. That is 1.4 million a year. During the first five weeks of a pregnancy, although the baby is not fully formed it has a heart beat.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you ...
~ Jeremiah 1:5

 God has planned every human life before it has ever begun. He has formed each person. Thinking about this makes me realize how little respect and love I show to God. He, the creator of the universe planned out my life and thought I was important enough to create. Every issue and triumph and thing that has come into my life is a result of the Almighty God. He knew about it all before I was ever even a thought. All God has asked me to do, my whole purpose of being is to know God and make God known. That is all He has asked. In doing those two things all else will fall into place. I am realizing the things I tend to live for are for selfish gain and have absolutely nothing to do with the task the Lord Most High has given me. "Vanities of vanities, 'says the preacher,' all is vanity." Ecclesiastes 1:1. Solomon hit the nail on the head with that one. Think about your day to day. Is what you live for really worth it? I mean seriously look at your life and the things that you do and ask yourself how it helps you accomplish the task that God has given you (to know God and make God known). Yes, there is opportunity with everything: grocery shopping, college classes, jobs, sports, clubs, etc. But are we taking the opportunity to make the most of each opportunity? 

For the first 6 months - year of my job I was not afraid to share the gospel in the office. We then had some things happen where all spiritual everything was pulled from our office. Then a few months later it was all allowed back in. I was still skiddish about sharing with the lost in the office and the people that would be coming in and out of the doors each day, week, semester, and year. As time went on God put a more bold spirit in me. He continued to increase that spirit and currently still is. There have been several students that have heard the gospel  because of the fire Christ lit in my heart, all because I began to count the cost of discipleship and began looking at what it meant to know Him and make Him known. So my day-to-day life ... am I doing things that matter and that advance me toward my purpose of knowing God and making Him known? Or am I too afraid or ashamed of the gospel to step outside of my comfort zone and do things that may be slightly uncomfortable so that others may know Him? God thought I was important enough to create, but do I think God is important enough to serve?

Father's Day- A look at the role of our father's compared to our Father

We all have a father. Some of you may not know who your father is, you may have never met him but you know he exists. Some of you have a great father who you live with and see everyday. Some may have a father you live with but he is, well not great. Thankfully I have grown up having an amazing father. But I am not writing to brag on my father (as much as I would like to). So we all share a common denominator here, we all have a father. A father is the leaders, they are the initiators. They are the man of the house who takes care of their wife and children. Father's discipline their children when they do wrong and they teach them to do right. Father's love their family's, even when they make a big mess of things. Father's work hard and provide food, shelter, and clothing for their family. The list of things they do is endless. They get their so called "job description" from the Ultimate Father. Our God is the most amazing Father anyone could ever have. Now matter how terrible or how great your physical father is, God the Father beats him out by a landslide.
Our Father has provided for us in ways we could not even imagine. He has loved us when we spit in His face and chose sin/death over love/life. He is eternally great. Knowing that our father's get such a weighty job title from God Himself should give us a little more respect for them. In the past I have not been the best at loving either of my parents. I was rebellious and mean. The way I treated them and the things I said to them were uncalled for and not deserving at all. My parents have loved me through thick and thin. Even today when I was going through a rough time dealing with somethings with some people in my life (very vague...I know). They were both loving and understanding. They love me unconditionally. They, however, cannot ever love me as much as my Father loves me. I cannot love them as much as He loves them. God is love (I John 4:8). God's love reaches to the ends of the earth and outside of time. He wove you in your mother's womb. He knew you before you were born. He knows more about you than you could ever know about you (Psalm 139).
Psalm 139 does a great job of explaining how much our Father loves each and every one of us. I like using this chapter in writing encouraging letters to friends and family. So I am going to write it to all of you the way I would write it to someone really close to me. Although I may not know all of you who read this (now and at a future date), I do hope for you to get the same effect and the same desire for God when I read and re-read and go through this chapter. I hope you can get as much from it as I do. This is how much our Father loves us and our earthly father's could never love us as much as God can.

1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me. (He knows everything about you. He has searched you inside and out)
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar. (Just like in the jingle many people sing about santa "He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake..." Only God is real :) )

3You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. (He has seen your path and where you lie down. He knows you what you are going to do before you do it)

4Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all. (He knows what you are going to say before you say it. He knows it ALL)

5You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me. (He has given you a path and no one can change it. If you are His, you are His forever...and ever...and ever...and eternity)

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it. (We cannot, in this lifetime, ever understand how He has such knowledge and such wisdom and such power. We can say "He is God and has all power" but we will not fully comprehend His Awesomeness until we meet Him face-to-face in our final home)

7Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

9If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

10Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me. (No matter where we go He is there. We cannot go deep into the ocean and lose Him or high into the sky and hide from Him. Even our hiding place He sees us. He has full access to us 24/7 and then some)

11If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”

12Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You. (He is a light in the dark and nothing can shut Him down. When we are afraid of the night we know that He is still there with us shinning as bright as ever)

13For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb. (He wove you in! He made you to be. You were not just some cosmic accident. You are here for a purpose, a divine purpose from the most amazing God!)

14I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well. (We are told to praise Him because of all the great that He has done. We should praise Him everyday and not just once a week or once a month or once a year...everyday, every single day. He has given you every breath. He gave you eyes to read this. He gave you ears to hear and a nose to smell and tastebuds to taste... He is wonderful and magnificent in every way.)

15My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

16Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them. (He has seen you before you were even a thought in your parents head. He has known you long before you knew you. He knows how many days you have to live. He knew this before you were woven in by Him)

17How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You. (Your earthly father thinks about you quite a bit but I doubt he thinks about you as much as God. God thinks about you more times than there are grains of sand. He loves you so much!)

19O that You would slay the wicked, O God;
Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.

20For they speak against You wickedly,
And Your enemies take Your name in vain.

21Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?

22I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.

23Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

24And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.


Basically we can sum all of that up with:

YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES YOU!


Do not forget to show your earthly father how much you love him but do not forget to praise you heavenly Father for all He has done for you and how much He loves you even when you forget He exists. Love on your father and you Father today.


God bless!